Tag Archives: Egyptian students

Nagy Kamel and Mostafa Shawqy, are engineering students at Helwan University in Cairo and mainly focus on their studies, but one day as they entered the engineering building they were met by a group of police who demanded their ID cards, searched their bags, and then handcuffed the boys and took them off to jail. In Mubarak Egypt, it is a crime to speak out forcefully against his policies and doing so in public makes one subject to being searched and handcuffed. The assault on the boys took place one day after the Resistance Students,to which they belong, held a seminar that focused on the incompetent policies of the Mubarak administration. “We are active inside the university and know that what they’re doing is an attempt to stop our activity There’s an atmosphere of fear among students in the faculty of engineering.”

Students and faculty are both aware of police policies to stifle free discussion and to harass students who openly speak their mind. The boys will most probably be charged with physically assaulting police officers during the altercation.

According to many observers, since deans are appointed and usually have a security check which ensures police authorities have a voice in who becomes a dean, there is scant chance university administrators will take the side of their students against security forces.

More than two thousand students at Al-Azahar University in Cairo protested the arrest of eleven students who are member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Students complained of interference in their rights by security guards and urged the end of students being searched when they entered university grounds.Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a student complained; “This escalation in the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has worrying implications for anyone who peacefully campaigns for change.” University authorities insisted the government was merely trying to protect students from those who preach violence.

There are several issues entailed in the efforts by students to ensure their rights against government actions. The Muslim Brotherhood has been condemned as a violent organization without due process proceedings. Egyptian university students wish to be accorded their rights to belong to organizations in order to fight for democracy in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood in the past has engaged in violence, but these students are attempting to create a sense of freedom on college campuses which allows students to engage in intellectual discussions. If any student commits an act of violence there are sufficient laws which would result in punishment. The Western world condemns actions by the Iranian government to suppress free speech on university campuses, certainly the same principle should be protected in Egypt.